Top ten must-eat delicacies in Suzhou:

1. Water shield soup.

2. Fei Fei Decoction.

3. Biluo shrimp.

4. Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs.

5. Eel paste.

6. Osmanthus chicken head rice.

7. Changshu Beggar’s Chicken.

8. Cherry meat.

9. Fried.

10. Squirrel mandarin fish.

Allusion

Allusion 1

According to legend, a long time ago, there was a beggar who begged for food and ended up in a village in Changshu County (now Changshu City). One day, he accidentally got a chicken and wanted to kill it and cook it, but he had neither cooking utensils nor seasonings. He came to the foot of Yushan Mountain, killed the chicken, removed its internal organs, and coated the feathers with yellow mud and firewood. He put the coated chicken in a fire and roasted it. When the mud dried and the chicken was cooked, he peeled off the mud shell, and the chicken feathers also followed the mud. The shell comes off to reveal the chicken.

Allusion 2

Legend has it that Emperor Qianlong visited the south of the Yangtze River incognito and accidentally ended up living in the wilderness. A beggar saw that he was pitiful, so he gave him a "beggar's chicken" that he thought was a delicacy. Qianlong was sleepy and hungry, so he naturally found the chicken extremely delicious. After eating, he asked the chicken its name. The beggar was too embarrassed to say that the chicken was called "Beggar's Chicken," so he called it "Rich Chicken." Qianlong was full of praise for this chicken.

The beggar later found out that this tramp was the current emperor. This "beggar's chicken" also became a "rich chicken" because of the emperor's golden mouth. It has been passed down to this day and has become a famous dish in the elegant hall.